Description
A significant amount of recyclable and reusable material is currently being dumped as waste at King County transfer stations. To address this and increase material reuse and recycling, the County will enhance enforcement and compliance at its facilities by leveraging technology to identify Waste Acceptance Rule (WAR) violations and increasing enforcement staff at modern transfer stations. The initiative includes expanding the number of waste inspectors, ensuring that Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are available for operational questions and violation identification. King County will assign additional staff to support city contracts with Waste Management Service Providers, shifting enforcement responsibilities to these providers while King County transitions to an auditor role. This approach will increase hauler accountability and incentivize self-regulation, with King County auditing and regulating haulers to ensure enforcement is equitable. Learning from experience from the City of Seattle’s model, the program will start with often less resourced, smaller cities and expand to larger jurisdictions. Implementation will include targeted education and outreach for neighborhoods struggling with compliance and will focus on specific items, such as organics, for enforcement action.